Internship Guidelines
Internship Coordinator:
Office:
Telephone:
Email:
Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
Smith 104
Office: 496-3810; Home: 356-7375
nater@byui.edu
Objectives
The objectives of the internship are to: provide students with an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained
in the classroom to a professional internship position; allow students to gain valuable work experience while
making an authentic contribution to their employer; allow students to explore future career opportunities;
enable students to establish contacts and professional career networking links in their field; and enhance
students portfolios through the internship experience.
Placement Criteria
The internship must be directly related to the student’s field of study and provide the student with a
significant learning experience that allows the student to apply the knowledge gained in the classroom. The
intern’s direct supervisor must be willing to teach and evaluate the intern and provide the intern with
opportunities to complete the goals and requirements of the internship. A Master Internship Agreement
form must be completed by the internship provider and approved by the university’s internship office. The
Student Internship Agreement must be completed and approved by both the department internship director
and the university internship director. The student must complete a minimum of 270 hours of work on-site
(not telecommuting) for the internship credits. Although a certain amount of repetitive and mundane tasks
can be expected these must be limited and offset by more substantial work.
Pre-Internship Requirements:
Prior to beginning the internship the student must complete the following:
1) Register online with Career Navigator of the BYU-Idaho Academic Discovery Center
(Manwaring Center).
2) Fill out and submit the online internship registration form. (The form found on the
Academic Discovery Center website, under “students” and “internship registration.”)
3) Verify that the intern provider has completed the Master Agreement.
4) Submit to the instructor a pre-internship resume and cover letter (see last page).
Internship Requirements of the Student
During the internship the intern must:
1) Decide on a special project during the first four weeks of the internship (see description
below). The experience provider must approve the special project.
2) Submit three monthly progress/status reports to instructor; each due on the last day of the
month (see last page). Describe what you have accomplished during the past month, and what
you plan to accomplish during the upcoming month. One page maximum (each).
3) Complete the special project.
4) Complete the time requirements (270 hours on site) as outlined on the student agreement.
5) Complete and submit internship summary report.
6) Complete the student internship evaluation (online).
7) Verify that the internship provider has submitted his/her evaluation and recommendation letter.
Special Project
During the first four weeks, the intern is to meet with the experience provider and decide upon a special
project that the intern will complete during the internship. The goal of the special project is to allow the
intern to apply problem-solving skills to a challenge or research questions facing the business or agency.
Application of previously-learned economic principles is required for this project. A description or
statement of a problem is not sufficient. You must bring economic principles, analysis, and application to
bear on your subject. All data used in your project must be shown in your special project, unless under a
proprietary restriction by the experience provider. This project is to be completed as part of the workload
of the internship. At the end of the internship, a report on this project will be submitted (within the
internship summary report), and will be graded based on: 1) ideas, insights and analysis; 2) flow of the
concepts/strengths of the arguments; 3) grammar, structure and typographical errors; and 4) referencing
and sourcing. An outline of the project should be included in the final project.
Online Internship Evaluation Report (via email)
Complete the student evaluation of the internship that will be emailed to you two weeks prior to the end of
your internship. This evaluation must be completed for you to receive a grade for the internship (see last
page). (If you do not receive the email from career services, please contact them so that you will be able
to meet this requirement.) More information about the evaluation, as well as a contact email address for
career services is available at the career and internship services website.
Internship Requirements of the experience provider
1) Complete the Master Agreement form.
2) Approve the special project.
3) Provide opportunities and training for the intern to complete the learning objectives and special
project of the internship.
4) Complete the online evaluation of the intern, including the intern’s participation as a team
member. This evaluation may be shared with the intern if the employer wishes.
5) If warranted, write a letter of recommendation for the intern. The original letter is to be given
to the intern, with a copy to the instructor.
Internship Summary Report
At the end of the internship, the student will complete a summary report consisting of five summary
sections, as noted below. This report is due at the end of the semester (see last page). The report must be
compiled into a document with each section clearly identified. The report should demonstrate your best
professional presentation skills.
1) Company Section
Provide a report on the company, describing the history, culture, products, leaders and vision
of the company or organization. (2-4 pages)
2) Internship Report Section
Provide a summary about your experience which includes the following information
(4-8 pages):
a. a job description for your position as an intern
b. the skills and coursework relevant to the internship
c. a summary of what you learned from the internship
d. a discussion of your relationship with your experience provider and co-workers.
Include here insights gained as a member of a team, and an evaluation of your team’s
effectiveness, cooperation and support
e. identify areas where you could have been better prepared to meet the internship
requirements either personally or in the curriculum
f. identify shortcomings of the internship experience and discuss ways that these
shortcomings might be overcome
g. discuss how the internship experience has influenced career plans
h. discuss what advice you would give to another student preparing for an internship.
3) Special Project Section
Summarize the outline and results of the special project. The student presents a background
on the topic, a summary of appropriate previous research; a statement of the problem; his/her
approach to complete the project, and the final results or outcome of the work (minimum 4
pages). References and sources should be attached to the paper where appropriate.
4) Resume Section
Provide an updated resume that includes a brief one-paragraph summary of the internship
experience.
5) Report of Contacts Section
Provide a listing of the professional network you have developed during your internship
experience. Show the name, titles, address, and telephone numbers of the individuals in your
network.